UNAA Chicago Convention, Monday, September 7, 2009
Sep 08, 2009
Newmarket, Ontario, 6:50 p.m.<br><br>I am back home from Chicago at the conclusion of the 21st Annual Convention of UNAA. We left early this morning at 6:15 a.m. for the flight from O’Hare International. The drive to the airport was a smooth one, wi
OPIYO OLOYA
Newmarket, Ontario, 6:50 p.m.
I am back home from Chicago at the conclusion of the 21st Annual Convention of UNAA. We left early this morning at 6:15 a.m. for the flight from O’Hare International. The drive to the airport was a smooth one, with very little traffic on Labour Day Holiday. We killed the next hour waiting for the flight. I had time to think about the just concluded UNAA Convention.
In many ways, I think UNAA has survived its biggest test ever. In electing Los Angeles entrepreneur Moses Wilson, deftly avoided the hard-lined approach Lt. Frank Musisi took in the last two years. Musisi himself is a very likeable man, amiable, respectful and always eager to stop and listen. However, it became abundantly clear that the president was at odds with his entire board. He did what he wanted to do, and barely bothered with consultation. He justified his actions at the presidential debate on Saturday night by insisting that the president was the chief executive officer elected to do a job, and he did just that.
Lt. Musisi is a military man, a man of action and chain of command. This may explain what was sometimes interpreted as a dictatorial manner of running a voluntary organisation like UNAA. One thing though, he had plenty of energy, and spared no effort to push whatever he set his mind to. The problem for him was that he pushed one project too many without consulting, and in the end, the electorate rebelled and threw him out of office.
The drawback of the one-man show was highlighted in the planning of the Northern Uganda forum. In the past, Dr. Ben Omara Abe (Seattle, Washington) organized the forum. He also had a free hand in selecting the panelists for the event. This was turned upside down this year when, without consulting Dr. Abe, Lt. Musisi organized a northern forum and invited his own panelists. Dr. Abe meanwhile invited the Minister of State for Karamoja and First Lady Hon. Janet Museveni to be on the panel and the invitation was quickly accepted. Dr. Abe’s rationale was simple: The minister oversees one of the most needy areas of Uganda, and could provide some pointers on how to tackle post-war issues arising in northern Uganda.
As late as Friday morning, there was only one session listed on the official UNAA program book, and it was the one organized by Lt. Musisi. However, seeing the potential for speaking with one voice, the panelists for the two forums met Friday morning and decided that there would be two sessions for northern Uganda, one on Friday chaired by Ms. Irene Latigo (Toronto, Ontario) and the other on Saturday by Dr. Abe. Hon. Museveni would address the Saturday session.
Still, there was lingering problems even with an hour to go before Hon. Museveni spoke. The least of it was that the venue for the Saturday session was a small conference room that could accommodate far fewer than those expected to attend. Then there was the delayed lunch. For some reason that was not explained to delegates, uniformed guards were posted at the door to the lunch hall. The door could not be opened, said one of the guards, until UNAA president Lt. Musisi gave the go ahead. I remember asking why this was necessary since every person who was slated to attend the luncheon had a security wrist-band. He said he did not know, but those were his orders.
Obviously, some delegates interpreted this as an attempt to sabotage the Hon. Museveni’s anticipated speech. By delaying lunch, the northern forum would be further pushed back, and may not take place at all. In any event, lunch was served and delegates rushed through it in order to make their way to the Northern Forum which by this time had become the key event of the convention. The anticipated address by Illinois Senator Roland W. Burris at lunch was cancelled.
The northern forum was well attended with participants standing outside the tightly squeezed room. Hon. Museveni started the address, and spoke about progress that was being made in the country generally, and in the north. “By God’s grace, there is now total peace and stability in all parts of Ugandaâ€, she declared to much applause from the audience. She asked all Ugandans in the Diaspora to help the country develop by doing whatever they could to make a difference.
It was a well thought out speech, and delivered with an even tone. As one of the panelists, I spoke about education in northern Uganda. I made some recommendations including pushing to have free education for northern Uganda students who qualify for university. I also suggested that libraries with relevant books be built at each parish level so that adults and children have full access to books in order to improve literacy in the population. The audience was completely supportive of all these ideas. A spontaneous act of solidarity had the delegates digging into their pockets to donate money for the sponsorship of a child. At last count, the amount collected was close to $600.00
The question period was decidedly the most contentious, and I feared that it could get out of control. There was so much that delegates wanted to ask or say that were not specifically focused on northern Uganda, but mostly toward the government. As the questioners lined up at the microphone, you could feel the tension in the room. And it was very hot inside the small room. Some questions were really not questions at all, but more oriented toward product promotion. One person spoke about a new breed of matooke banana that was engineered at Kyambogo University, and which could be kept fresh over a long time. Another person spoke about a water system. And so it went.
But others wanted to know how the government was tackling corruption and what Hon. Museveni thought about presidential term limit. As she started answering one of the questions, Hon. Museveni mentioned that until the NRM came to power, not many schools had been built. This created an immediate grumbling, but she calmly asked to be “given a chance to speakâ€, and the room went quiet. Her explanation was anecdotal, but it made the point that education remains the big item for the NRM government. When someone in the audience shouted about “corruptionâ€, she chose to respond. “There is corruption in Uganda, I have to acknowledge thatâ€, she said, “but the government is working on it.â€
The session grew more tenuous and difficult to manage with Dr. Ben Abe threatening to end it prematurely. But he did allow Charlie Lakony from San Diego, California the chance to take the microphone and declare his innocence. Lakony said he had been accused of being a rebel, but he was publicly saying he was not affiliated with any rebel movement and had nothing to do with those who were arrested in July this year and linked to the UPF. The crowd cheered and clapped.
The rest of Saturday afternoon was a down time as delegates went for some sight-seeing in Chicago. My family wanted to see Obama’s house in Chicago. We chose to use the GPS system in the car. But when I programmed the address on Greenwood, I noticed that all the numbers were blanked out, and satellite was unable to pick up Obama’s address. In any event, the navigation system began directing me first, along the Lakeshore, and then North Chicago. I knew this was the wrong direction, but trusted the car. After half an hour, it became clear that the system was completely lost direction—I wondered whether, for security reasons, we had been intentionally misled from Obama’s address. In any case, the system kept insisting we make a right turn on a non-existent street. In fact, the spot where we were supposed to make the turn was a cemetery.
Still we did not give up. I knew that Obama’s house was very close to a park, and I programmed the park into the navigation drive. We now drove south in the right direction, but ended up in Chicago Southside where there is a large population of poor African Americans. We did not find the house, but instead saw much evidence of poverty. There were idle youth banging containers along the street, obviously something to do. We saw men simply standing around at street corners, houses with card-board for windows.
It was a very different manifestation of the America that we had been seeing near our hotel in downtown Chicago. There, the crowd was decidedly white, and beautiful. Obviously, the majority of the blacks around the Chicago Marriott over the weekend were Ugandans, but these were mostly people who could afford to be at the convention. In any event, while we did not get to see Obama’s house, we got to see a more important reality of America today, the extreme disparity between those who have, and those who do not have. My only regret is that I did not get a chance to speak to Americans about this disparity. My time was completely taken up by the convention, and I did not get to meet one of my original goals to speak to Americans about their own country, their president and the hopes they have for the future.
All in all, I enjoyed the experience of being in Chicago mainly because I had opportunity to meet so many of my readership, people who read my column and who introduced themselves to me. As a writer, it is a great feeling to actually meet up your readership, and to be affirmed with positive comments. There were also some wonderful encounters such as meeting up with a group of young musicians from Boston. Known as the Batabazi which, I was told, means “wanderersâ€, the perform reggae, hip-hop, R&B. They performed Sunday night at the banquet and showed the level of versatility that I have always wanted to see in the performance of African music—the deft mix of tradition with modern. Batabazi certainly meets this high mark. The members are young, energetic, and very positive with their message—they are Jerome Jjooga, Mpagi Kironde, Namagera Kiwanuka, Natasha Kawessa, and Anthony Bbosa Balagadde (producer). They plan to hit Uganda stages in December this year—I am confident they are going to be a big success.
As always, I looked forward and enjoyed interacting with Uganda delegates—this year we had a huge contingent from Uganda that included Minister of State for Northern Uganda, David Wakikona, Gulu RDC Walter Ochora, Leader of Opposition, Ogenga Latigo, Minister of state for Micro-Finance, Ruth Nankabirwa, Commissioner for Immigration, Kania Obiga, Presidential advisor, Richard Todwong, Director of Uganda media center, Fred Opolot and my university friend, Terego MP, Kassiona Wadri.
This year’s UNAA Convention would have delivered that good time, had it not been for the electioneering politics that took over. I hope next year will be different, with delegates coming together, and enjoying themselves while talking about serious matters of development of Uganda.
Until then, I must say good night. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I need to get a good night sleep to prepare for the busy day ahead.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca
Newmarket, Ontario, 6:50 p.m.
I am back home from Chicago at the conclusion of the 21st Annual Convention of UNAA. We left early this morning at 6:15 a.m. for the flight from O’Hare International. The drive to the airport was a smooth one, with very little traffic on Labour Day Holiday. We killed the next hour waiting for the flight. I had time to think about the just concluded UNAA Convention.
In many ways, I think UNAA has survived its biggest test ever. In electing Los Angeles entrepreneur Moses Wilson, deftly avoided the hard-lined approach Lt. Frank Musisi took in the last two years. Musisi himself is a very likeable man, amiable, respectful and always eager to stop and listen. However, it became abundantly clear that the president was at odds with his entire board. He did what he wanted to do, and barely bothered with consultation. He justified his actions at the presidential debate on Saturday night by insisting that the president was the chief executive officer elected to do a job, and he did just that.
Lt. Musisi is a military man, a man of action and chain of command. This may explain what was sometimes interpreted as a dictatorial manner of running a voluntary organisation like UNAA. One thing though, he had plenty of energy, and spared no effort to push whatever he set his mind to. The problem for him was that he pushed one project too many without consulting, and in the end, the electorate rebelled and threw him out of office.
The drawback of the one-man show was highlighted in the planning of the Northern Uganda forum. In the past, Dr. Ben Omara Abe (Seattle, Washington) organized the forum. He also had a free hand in selecting the panelists for the event. This was turned upside down this year when, without consulting Dr. Abe, Lt. Musisi organized a northern forum and invited his own panelists. Dr. Abe meanwhile invited the Minister of State for Karamoja and First Lady Hon. Janet Museveni to be on the panel and the invitation was quickly accepted. Dr. Abe’s rationale was simple: The minister oversees one of the most needy areas of Uganda, and could provide some pointers on how to tackle post-war issues arising in northern Uganda.
As late as Friday morning, there was only one session listed on the official UNAA program book, and it was the one organized by Lt. Musisi. However, seeing the potential for speaking with one voice, the panelists for the two forums met Friday morning and decided that there would be two sessions for northern Uganda, one on Friday chaired by Ms. Irene Latigo (Toronto, Ontario) and the other on Saturday by Dr. Abe. Hon. Museveni would address the Saturday session.
Still, there was lingering problems even with an hour to go before Hon. Museveni spoke. The least of it was that the venue for the Saturday session was a small conference room that could accommodate far fewer than those expected to attend. Then there was the delayed lunch. For some reason that was not explained to delegates, uniformed guards were posted at the door to the lunch hall. The door could not be opened, said one of the guards, until UNAA president Lt. Musisi gave the go ahead. I remember asking why this was necessary since every person who was slated to attend the luncheon had a security wrist-band. He said he did not know, but those were his orders.
Obviously, some delegates interpreted this as an attempt to sabotage the Hon. Museveni’s anticipated speech. By delaying lunch, the northern forum would be further pushed back, and may not take place at all. In any event, lunch was served and delegates rushed through it in order to make their way to the Northern Forum which by this time had become the key event of the convention. The anticipated address by Illinois Senator Roland W. Burris at lunch was cancelled.
The northern forum was well attended with participants standing outside the tightly squeezed room. Hon. Museveni started the address, and spoke about progress that was being made in the country generally, and in the north. “By God’s grace, there is now total peace and stability in all parts of Ugandaâ€, she declared to much applause from the audience. She asked all Ugandans in the Diaspora to help the country develop by doing whatever they could to make a difference.
It was a well thought out speech, and delivered with an even tone. As one of the panelists, I spoke about education in northern Uganda. I made some recommendations including pushing to have free education for northern Uganda students who qualify for university. I also suggested that libraries with relevant books be built at each parish level so that adults and children have full access to books in order to improve literacy in the population. The audience was completely supportive of all these ideas. A spontaneous act of solidarity had the delegates digging into their pockets to donate money for the sponsorship of a child. At last count, the amount collected was close to $600.00
The question period was decidedly the most contentious, and I feared that it could get out of control. There was so much that delegates wanted to ask or say that were not specifically focused on northern Uganda, but mostly toward the government. As the questioners lined up at the microphone, you could feel the tension in the room. And it was very hot inside the small room. Some questions were really not questions at all, but more oriented toward product promotion. One person spoke about a new breed of matooke banana that was engineered at Kyambogo University, and which could be kept fresh over a long time. Another person spoke about a water system. And so it went.
But others wanted to know how the government was tackling corruption and what Hon. Museveni thought about presidential term limit. As she started answering one of the questions, Hon. Museveni mentioned that until the NRM came to power, not many schools had been built. This created an immediate grumbling, but she calmly asked to be “given a chance to speakâ€, and the room went quiet. Her explanation was anecdotal, but it made the point that education remains the big item for the NRM government. When someone in the audience shouted about “corruptionâ€, she chose to respond. “There is corruption in Uganda, I have to acknowledge thatâ€, she said, “but the government is working on it.â€
The session grew more tenuous and difficult to manage with Dr. Ben Abe threatening to end it prematurely. But he did allow Charlie Lakony from San Diego, California the chance to take the microphone and declare his innocence. Lakony said he had been accused of being a rebel, but he was publicly saying he was not affiliated with any rebel movement and had nothing to do with those who were arrested in July this year and linked to the UPF. The crowd cheered and clapped.
The rest of Saturday afternoon was a down time as delegates went for some sight-seeing in Chicago. My family wanted to see Obama’s house in Chicago. We chose to use the GPS system in the car. But when I programmed the address on Greenwood, I noticed that all the numbers were blanked out, and satellite was unable to pick up Obama’s address. In any event, the navigation system began directing me first, along the Lakeshore, and then North Chicago. I knew this was the wrong direction, but trusted the car. After half an hour, it became clear that the system was completely lost direction—I wondered whether, for security reasons, we had been intentionally misled from Obama’s address. In any case, the system kept insisting we make a right turn on a non-existent street. In fact, the spot where we were supposed to make the turn was a cemetery.
Still we did not give up. I knew that Obama’s house was very close to a park, and I programmed the park into the navigation drive. We now drove south in the right direction, but ended up in Chicago Southside where there is a large population of poor African Americans. We did not find the house, but instead saw much evidence of poverty. There were idle youth banging containers along the street, obviously something to do. We saw men simply standing around at street corners, houses with card-board for windows.
It was a very different manifestation of the America that we had been seeing near our hotel in downtown Chicago. There, the crowd was decidedly white, and beautiful. Obviously, the majority of the blacks around the Chicago Marriott over the weekend were Ugandans, but these were mostly people who could afford to be at the convention. In any event, while we did not get to see Obama’s house, we got to see a more important reality of America today, the extreme disparity between those who have, and those who do not have. My only regret is that I did not get a chance to speak to Americans about this disparity. My time was completely taken up by the convention, and I did not get to meet one of my original goals to speak to Americans about their own country, their president and the hopes they have for the future.
All in all, I enjoyed the experience of being in Chicago mainly because I had opportunity to meet so many of my readership, people who read my column and who introduced themselves to me. As a writer, it is a great feeling to actually meet up your readership, and to be affirmed with positive comments. There were also some wonderful encounters such as meeting up with a group of young musicians from Boston. Known as the Batabazi which, I was told, means “wanderersâ€, the perform reggae, hip-hop, R&B. They performed Sunday night at the banquet and showed the level of versatility that I have always wanted to see in the performance of African music—the deft mix of tradition with modern. Batabazi certainly meets this high mark. The members are young, energetic, and very positive with their message—they are Jerome Jjooga, Mpagi Kironde, Namagera Kiwanuka, Natasha Kawessa, and Anthony Bbosa Balagadde (producer). They plan to hit Uganda stages in December this year—I am confident they are going to be a big success.
As always, I looked forward and enjoyed interacting with Uganda delegates—this year we had a huge contingent from Uganda that included Minister of State for Northern Uganda, David Wakikona, Gulu RDC Walter Ochora, Leader of Opposition, Ogenga Latigo, Minister of state for Micro-Finance, Ruth Nankabirwa, Commissioner for Immigration, Kania Obiga, Presidential advisor, Richard Todwong, Director of Uganda media center, Fred Opolot and my university friend, Terego MP, Kassiona Wadri.
This year’s UNAA Convention would have delivered that good time, had it not been for the electioneering politics that took over. I hope next year will be different, with delegates coming together, and enjoying themselves while talking about serious matters of development of Uganda.
Until then, I must say good night. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and I need to get a good night sleep to prepare for the busy day ahead.
Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca